I'm building a battery bank for a new sprinter van I've got coming next month. Original plan was battleborns or SOK's, but I decided to go the DIY route after spending some time on this site. Thanks for the all the great info!
The plan is 400watts solar w victron mppt, Victron 12/3000 inverter, cerbo and touch 50 screen. I've got everything bought except the solar panel (picking up next week)
16 lishen 272 cells into 4 12v packs, each using an overkill BMS. Custom built battery boxes with welded steel frames and hdpe sides with built in compression.
I ordered cells at the end of December through Michael Caro group buy. I'd recommend going with Michael. Cells arrived from Basen today. I paid ~$100 extra for expedited shipping/handling and it was just under 60 days. The cells were packed 2 to a box instead of 4, that was part of the extra shipping. Double bus bars and studs w/lock nuts.
I am pretty happy with the condition. They had the "re-wrap" issue with some bubbles that others have reported, but that doesn't bother me. A couple of them had a little gap near the top where you could see metal. Pic below is the worst one. I'm insulating between cells and against the case, so it's not really a concern for me.
All the cells look identical with blue ringed vents except the 2 shown below (cells #15 and 16 on the right). These 2 had slighter higher voltage and lower IR, but I'm not going to be concerned until I test them. I wish they were all the same, but hopefully it's not an issue. One cell has a little bump I can feel on the top under the covering, but it feels like it's just some junk caught under the sticker. No issue with corrosion in any of the vents. All threads look good and I didn't notice any significant "leaners" I've seen reported recently. At this point, I'm happy with the physical appearance and I'm moving on to testing.
The plan is 400watts solar w victron mppt, Victron 12/3000 inverter, cerbo and touch 50 screen. I've got everything bought except the solar panel (picking up next week)
16 lishen 272 cells into 4 12v packs, each using an overkill BMS. Custom built battery boxes with welded steel frames and hdpe sides with built in compression.
I ordered cells at the end of December through Michael Caro group buy. I'd recommend going with Michael. Cells arrived from Basen today. I paid ~$100 extra for expedited shipping/handling and it was just under 60 days. The cells were packed 2 to a box instead of 4, that was part of the extra shipping. Double bus bars and studs w/lock nuts.
I am pretty happy with the condition. They had the "re-wrap" issue with some bubbles that others have reported, but that doesn't bother me. A couple of them had a little gap near the top where you could see metal. Pic below is the worst one. I'm insulating between cells and against the case, so it's not really a concern for me.
All the cells look identical with blue ringed vents except the 2 shown below (cells #15 and 16 on the right). These 2 had slighter higher voltage and lower IR, but I'm not going to be concerned until I test them. I wish they were all the same, but hopefully it's not an issue. One cell has a little bump I can feel on the top under the covering, but it feels like it's just some junk caught under the sticker. No issue with corrosion in any of the vents. All threads look good and I didn't notice any significant "leaners" I've seen reported recently. At this point, I'm happy with the physical appearance and I'm moving on to testing.